A Perfect Full Stop

But to someone without a sword heart, wasn't this nothing more than wrinkles blown by the wind?

"Now, do you understand what 'Vacuum' means?" Bael chuckled, then suddenly threw back his head and laughed wildly.

"Saint Sanming! Could it be you?" Excitement gleamed in Bael's eyes. "In the distant future, will you be the one to put a perfect full stop to my swordsmanship?"

"Be careful!" Sword God Bael raised a finger, its long nail like a demon's claw, and pointed it directly at Miming's eyes. As if he could see through every hidden thought in him, he said coldly, "Don't be in such a hurry to die! I have high hopes for you!"

A powerful suction force pulled Miming's body directly over from several yards away, stopping only when Bael's finger hovered between his eyes.

Miming saw it. At Bael's fingertip, a Vacuum condensed from Haki pulsed like a blade. That tiny speck of sword energy, no larger than a bean, had dragged him over from afar. His entire body was bound by sword energy; he could not even move a finger.

And under the shroud of that sword energy, even his deepest thoughts and obsessions had nowhere to hide.

Can he see that I hate this place and want to destroy Mary Geoise? In that instant, Miming's terror was beyond measure, but he quickly calmed down.

So what? What was wrong with having secrets? What was wrong with wanting to destroy the Holy Land?

I'm a Celestial Dragon—!

Haki surged explosively from Miming's body, while the figures of the Twelve Gods collapsed into dust like sand sculptures. Only a somewhat satisfied voice remained. "Continue training."

Miming spread open his palm. A black vortex spun within it, then burst apart with a crisp crack. His clothes were shredded to pieces in an instant, and everything around him was violently yanked toward his palm by an invisible force.

This was Vacuum!

Miming remembered it now. That day in the Throne Court, the Gorosei had casually pulled him over from far away using "Vacuum"!

A black hole was not empty. It contained everything, and nothing could escape it.

Miming could not help recalling something an eminent monk had said in a temple in his previous life: all appearances in this world came from temper. Observation Haki, Armament Haki, Conqueror's Haki—Buddhist scriptures said that form was emptiness. True energy, Haki, spiritual energy, all of it was temper. The strongest was not having a big temper, but having no temper at all! Whether there was a sword in the heart but none in the hand, or no sword in the heart but one in the hand, it did not matter at all, because existence could become nothingness.

Creating something from nothingness—that was Vacuum!

Miming looked over the wrecked training ground and sighed. This round of training would be a long one!

For the Boa Sisters, every day Miming could not return home was a long one.

Having lost the great tree that could protect them, that trembling fear in their hearts kept piling up, growing more and more terrifying.

At last, the thing they feared arrived. Something extremely significant happened in the Bird Family—Saint Ni had tamed the Fish-Man Fisher Tiger.

"Wahahaha! Wahahaha!" Nearly all of Mary Geoise could hear Saint Ni's smug laughter. Riding Fisher Tiger, he traveled through every street and alley of Mary Geoise, visiting nearly every Celestial Dragon noble to display his valor.

"See that? What a truly strong slave looks like! What taming means! He won't die even like this! Even if I do this, and this, he won't resist, wahahaha—!" Saint Ni excitedly displayed his achievement to every World Noble.

Fisher Tiger's body was covered with knives of every size. Because he was so large, they could not deal him fatal injuries. But anyone who saw such a towering Fish-Man covered in knives and still forced to serve as a mount would gasp in amazement. That was exactly the effect Saint Ni wanted.

"This is truly astonishing, Saint Ni!" Rosward rode atop an equally tall captain slave. The two blocked the middle of the road, flattering each other.

Since their families were related—Rosward was Xia Luqianqian's older brother—it naturally became a reason to celebrate.

"This deserves a celebration! This is the fiercest Fish-Man Mary Geoise has ever acquired."

"How about making them fight? Which is stronger, the Fish-Man or the captain?"

"Let them fight! Have them compete with the same number of knives stuck in their bodies! Bring in the others too!"

"Good idea. Tell them to open the arena and place bets!"

Thus, a bloody festival began. Large numbers of Celestial Dragons brought the strongest slaves from their households to the Bird Family arena to enjoy the spectacle.

Every slave was extremely large. Before entering the arena, they had the same number of knives embedded in their bodies as Fisher Tiger. Amid the Celestial Dragons' frenzied shouts, they fought to the death.

In the end, Fisher Tiger won the match without suspense. The Fish-Men's resilience and inborn strength far surpassed those of humans. Taking advantage of the duels, Tiger drank his fill of water, then used Water Shot blasts from his mouth to knock opponent after opponent to the ground. Corpses piled up like mountains in the arena, while the Celestial Dragons' delighted laughter rang through the skies. But they were still not satisfied, so a long celebration banquet and further entertainment began.

"Aunt." Saint Charlos and Shalria came to pay their respects to Xia Luqianqian.

"Liya! You're getting prettier and prettier!" Xia Luqianqian was overjoyed. "Saint Charlos, you've become a real man too!"

Saint Charlos always carried a gun at his waist. He sniffled and huffed. "Aunt, I still haven't forgiven Saint Sanming. He went too far last time. Saint Charlos was in pain for over half a year after getting beaten up."

"I didn't say anything about that little injury!" Shalria immediately cut Saint Charlos off, then turned to Xia Luqianqian with a coy expression. "Aunt, why hasn't Brother Miming come back yet?"

"Miming was called away by the Gorosei to train." Xia Luqianqian's face was full of pride. "Miming is going to become the Gorosei's successor in the future!"

"Huh? Really? Being one of the Gorosei means working three hours a day!" That was Saint Charlos's reaction. "Even as punishment for hitting me, isn't that too harsh!"

"Brother Miming is amazing!" Shalria's eyes sparkled like stars.

"If you like him, then marry Miming and be his wife someday!" Xia Luqianqian was delighted. After all, Shalria, who usually looked down on everyone, actually favored her son. A marriage between close relatives would also better serve the shared interests of the Rosward Family and the Bird Family, while bringing them closer to Rosward's family as well.

"Oh, Aunt!" Shalria revealed a rare expression of delight. "I wonder if Brother Miming will like me."

"Huh? No way, right?" Charlos was somewhat displeased. "Shalria, aren't you afraid Miming will beat you every day?"